Breaking leadrein habits

H

hoir14

Active Member
Joined
1 April 2015
Messages
34
Visit site
A friend has a lead rein pony, she is somewhere around 16 years old and her daughter has moved off of lead rein and onto a first ridden sort of pony. She is desperate not to sell the lead rein pony- She is mostly good on hacks but in the school you cannot get her to move anywhere off the lead rein (perfect on a leadrope)- everything has been checked so putting it down to bad habits, does anyone have any ideas of how to break these habits?
 
Many good LR ponies are not good off the lead and will not be suitable as a FR, one that has been on the LR for 10 years plus is probably best sold on to do the job it is really good at rather than trying to reschool, it is not bad habits but that it has never been schooled off the lead and unless the child, or another child, is capable of schooling it then best to not really try for fear of undoing the good parts and not achieving what you do want.
That may sound rather negative but I have seen many ponies spoiled by trying to make them into something they are not, and also many children put off by trying to ride a pony that is not suitable for them when selling and replacing with one that is suitable would have been far better for all involved.
It is obviously not the time to buy or sell so until this is over I would suggest they accept she needs a leader and gradually move further away so the child is doing more independently but the pony still has some security from the person being very nearby, they can do a bit more fun stuff but not push the boundaries too far, selling a good pony is usually easy enough, remind them it will need to be sold at some point as the child will outgrow it at some stage.
 
I had a bit of a similar thing with my pony although she is much younger, when I popped her on the long reins for the first time she started turning to try to follow me like she was used to on the lead rein. She was a bit confused for a few minutes but I insisted and she then got it. Try with no child and the adult usually doing the lead reining on the long reins, it might click in the pony's head.
Does she respond to voice commands?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top